Printing plate and holding means therefor



July 24, 1934. I w, R ALLEN ET AL 1,967,221

G ND HOLDING MEANS THEREFOR Filed March 12} 19:2 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fial v U0 U-U w,

y 1934- -w. R. ALLEN ET AL 1,967,221

PRINTING PLATE AND HOLDING MEANS THEREFOR 7 Filed March 12, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet ,2

x 1 74 2112400 Wt caq wrw Patented July 24,1934

1,967,221 PRINTING PLATE AND HOLDING MEANS THEREFOR William R. Allen, Shaker Heights, and Emmett c.

Hartley, Euclid Village,

Ohio, assignors to Multigraph Company, Wilmington, Del., a corpora- 1 tion of Delaware Application March 12, 1932, Serial No. 598,394

22 Claims. (Cl. l01415.1)

This invention relates to a printing apparatus employing a printing plate mounted upon a rotary drum, the invention being concerned with the mutual formation of the printing plate and the means for attaching it to the drum. A characteristic of this mutual arrangement is that the plate and the attaching means each project circumferentially into regions beyond the edge of the other, so that an inking roller acting on the plate may gradually pass from engagement with the plate into engagement with the holding means, and vice versa, as the drum rotates, without encountering a 'gap which would tend to change the speed of rotation of the roller.

The holding means is an arcuate member or members arranged on the rotary drum to stand at the same radius as the surface of the plate, so that the holding means may serve to rotate the inking roller by friction with the surface thereof, in the same manner as the plate itself, to maintain a constant rotation of the roller. Such feature is claimed broadly in the pending application of George S. Rowell, No. 580,798, filed December '14, 1931, where the arcuate member maintains the rotation of the inking roller and may supply ink thereto but has no characteristic of holding the plate on the drum. The present invention is also in the nature of an improvement on the co-pending application of George S. Rowell, Serial No. 598,431 filed March 12', 1932, where the roller-engaging device also acts as the holding means for the plate.

In neither of the above-mentioned applications, however, is there the feature of the mutually overlapping holding means and plate which provides a continuous engagement for the surface of the inking roller from the plate to the holding means and from the holding means to the plate. Our invention is concerned with the mutual overlap of the plate "and the holding means, and also with the construction of the plate, and also with the construction of the holding means, which renders this coaction possible. This is illustrated in the drawings hereof, and is hereinafter more fully explained, while the essential novel features are summarized in the claims.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan, partly broken away, of a printing plate .made in accordance with this invention.

Fig. 2 is a plan of aprinting machine having a roller carrying the .plate of Fig. 1, the inking system being partly'broken away.

" Fig. 3 is a vertical section through the press of Fig. 2 as indicated by the line 33 on Fig. 2.

,Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan of a portion of the plate-carrying drum, the? plate and the plateholding device. w

Figs. 5 and 6 are cross sections ingly numbered lines on Fig. 4.

on correspondshaft 21 carried by the frame members and having a coacting roller 30 suitably mounted between the members. The printing plate 40, which may be a planographic plate or other flexible imagecarrying member, is held on the drum 20 by means hereinafter described.

The press illustrated may be either direct or offset; that is to say, the roller 30, having an elastic surface 31, may be a platen, the paper being fed along the support 12 (-Fig. 3) between the rollers 20 and 30, or the roller 30 may be the transfer roller, the paper being fed between it and a suitable platen, not shown.

Ink is supplied to the plate 40 by an inking 'system comprising a fountain or supply-roller 50 and two transferring rollers 51 and 52. Rollers 5,1 and 52 engage the supply roller 50 and each of these transfer rollers is adapted to coact with the plate and be frictionally rotated thereby.

One of the rollers of the press is suitably driven, I

as, for instance, the plate roller 20 by means of a. gear 25 thereon, which is engaged by a suitable driving pinion (not shown) and the other parts of the press rotate by frictional engagement with the plate or with a roller driven thereby, as will be well'understood.

In the plate roller 20 is shown a gap or opening of approximately a quarter circumference bounded by radial surfaces 26 and 27. In this gap is mounted the plate-holding device. As shown, the holding device comprises afixed arcuate member 61 secured to the drum, as by screws 63 and a movable arcuate member 62 mounted to slide circumferentially on arcuate surfaces on the drum formed by the end members thereof. The two arcuate plates 61 and 62 each 'have projecting fingers spacially arranged, fingers of one member projecting into. spaces in the other. so that the members telescope with each other.

The member 62 is suitably retained on its seat, as, for instance, by the radial spring 64 (Fig. '3) connected to an ear 65 mounted on a rod 66 carried by the drum. This member 62 is given a tendency to move toward the member 61, as, for instance, by springs 67 extendingin an approximate tangential direction two'members. As shown, both springs are attached to a rod.68 mounted in some of the webs l the inner' surface of the mem and anchored to the has a projecting pin, as 73, 74. These pins are adapted to occupy holes 41 formed in the ends of the printing plate 40. Accordingly, the movement of the fastening member under the influence of the spring 67 draws the plate 40 snugly about the drum and holds itin place thereon.

The exterior surface of the holding members 61 and 62 is in the same theoretic cylindrical envelope as the surface of the printing plate 40, and accordingly the inking rollers contact with the plate 40 and the holding device as the drum rotates. Thus, either the plate or the holding device serves to maintain the rotation of the rollers according to the position of the drum.

Now, to prevent any gap between the plate and the holding device, which would have the effect of losing the engagement with the roller, we provide a mutual circumferential overlapping of the surfaces of the holding device and printing plate, so that at no time, throughout the entire rotation of the drum, is either transfer roller out of contact with one of such surfaces. This peculiar feature will now be described. I

By reference to Fig. 1, it will be seen that each end of the printing plate 40 is escalloped to produce projecting ears 42, in which the openings 41 are formed, and intervening recesses 43 between the ears. The ends of the ears are convexed outwardly, while the plate at the inner end of the recess is concaved outwardly. Now, the plates 61 and 62 of the holding device are formed in a manner complementary to the end of the printing plate. Thus, the pockets 71 of the member 61 and the pockets 72 on the member 62, are individually formed corresponding to the contour of the projections 42 of the plate. The spaces '15, 76 between the pockets on the members 61 and 62 are continuous portions of the same cylindrical surface as the bodies of the members, and these intervening portions have contours corre-- sponding to the plate recesses 43. The pins '73 and '74 maybe formed at their outer surfaces to terminate in the same cylindrical envelope as the members carrying them, as illustrated in Fig. 5.

Now, when the holding device, as described, is employed and the plate mounted thereon, it will be seen that in the rotation of the drumeach inking roller 51, 52, is always in engagement either with the plate 40 alone or the holding device 61, 62, alone, or, during its transition from one to the-other, bears on both. of them. This characteristic" is illustrated in Figs. '4, 5 and 6, which views occupy corresponding relation to each other on the sheet, and wherein there is shown an overlap of plate projections beyond holder projections indicated by :s between the two broken lines'y and z.

During the rotation of the drum, if we assume the inking roller to be engaging'the plate, the transition from such engagement to the engagement with the holding device alone will happen as the roller is traveling, relatively speaking, into the region :c where it contacts with the overlapping portions of both the plate and the holding device; then the roller engages the holding device projections 75 or '76 only, as the inward bend of the plate ears42 (Fig. 5) is being passed, and then the roller engages only the surface of the body ofuthe holding device. The engagement continues uninterruptedly onto the other member of the holding device, and thence across the other circumferentiallyoverlapping projections of the plate and holding device, again onto the plate. This absence of interruption in roller engagement contributes to the smoothness and regularity of inking operation, which is especially important in planographic presses.

If desired, the exterior surface of the holding device may be grained, roughened, or enameled, so that it will carry ink and thus act as a distributing plate for the inking system. But whether this feature is employed, or whether the metal is smooth enough so that it will not actively retain ink, the device does operate to maintain the constant rotation of the inking system. It will be seen from Fig. 3 that there is a space between the outer edge of the holding member 62 and the radial surface 27 of the drum. This space comes beneath the tensioned plate 40 and if the plate is of considerable thickness, this space does no harm. However, with a very thin plate there might be a tendency of the platen or transfer roller to distort the printing plate inwardly where it crosses the space mentioned.

To support the plate between the drum and holding device and do away with the possibility of the inward distortion mentioned, we may form the movable member 62 and the drum itself with overlapping spacially arranged fingers so that, in all regions, the plate is supported by the drum orthe holding member or both. Such construction is illustrated in Fig. 7, where it will be seen that the holding member '62 has thespaced fin- -gers 82 which occupy recesses 28 in the drum 20 and are cut back in their outer faces to be flush with the drum. Accordingly, the plate is supported either by the fingers 82-or the projections 28 continuously from the drum to the holding device.

We claim:

1. The combination of a printing plate and a holding device therefor, each having circumferentially extending surfaces overlapping the other.

2. The combination of a drum, a flexible plate adapted to embrace the same, and a holding device for the plate carried by the drum, the plate and holding device having mutually overlapping portions occupying the same cylindrical surface.

3. The combination of a drum, a plate mounted thereon, a holding device on the drum engaging the plate and having an arcuate surface of the same radius as the plate, the holding device and plate having overlapping portions both at the said radius, whereby a roller may be engaged uninterruptedlyfrom the plate to the holding device.

4. The combination of a rotary drum, a printing plate adapted to embrace the same, a holding device on the drum adapted tovengage the plate and having an exterior surface which is at the same. radius as the exterior of the plate, said surface continuing circumferenti rlly beyond portions of the plate, and an inking roller adapted to have continuous engagement with either the plate or holding device or both as the drum rotates.

5. In a printing machine, the combination of a drum, a plate thereon, a holding device for securing the plate on the drum, and an inking roller adapted to contact at the same time with both the plate and the holding device.

6. The combination of a drum, a plate adapted to be mounted thereon, an arcuate holding device on the drum having its exterior surface at the same radius as the exterior surface of the plate on the drum, said holding device being adapted to engage both ends of the plate, and there being overlapping circumferential portions of each end of the plate and the holding device on the same radius as the exterior of the plate, whereby an inking roller may engage the plate alone, then both the plate and holding device, then the holding device alone, then the holding device and the other end of the plate together, and thereafter the plate alone.

7. A comparatively long and narrow flexible metallic printing plate having at the ends thereof a series of spaced integral projections, each being rounded on its end, and the spaces between the projections being reversely rounded.

8. A metallic printing plate having a series of ears on its end integral with the plate and slots through the ears, the outermost portion of the slots being beyond the innermost portions of the spaces between the ears.

9. The combination of a drum, means on-the drum for holding a printing plate in place, the drum and said means having overlapping spacially arranged portions to support the plate continuously.

10. The combination of a rotary drum, a printing plate adapted to embrace the same, a holding device on the drum'having means for engaging the plate, said holding device and drumhaving overlapping portions, the exterior surface of which is of the same radius, which overlapping portions lie in a longitudinal row beneath the plate as it extends from the drum onto the holding device.

11. The combination of a drum, an arcuate holding device mounted thereon and adapted to anchor the end of a plate embracing the drum, said holding device having its exterior surface of the same radius as the exterior of the plate on the drum, said holding device having projecting portions at the same external radius as the drum and flushly occupying recesses in the drum,

whereby the plate is supported continuously as it extends from the drumto the holding device.

12. The combination of a drum, a holding device movably'mounted thereon, a printing plate adapted to be held on the drum by the holding device, said-plate and holding device having mutually overlapping portions adapted to be simultaneously engaged by an inking roller, said holding" device and drum having mutually overlapping portions adapted to support the plate.

13. The combination of a drum, a holding device thereon comprising a movable member which has means for engagement with the plate, a plate adapted to embrace the drum and be anchored to the holding device, the holding device having the same external radius as the external radius of the plate when on the drum, the holding device and plate having mutally overlapping portions which are also of said radius, said holding device and drum having mutually overlapping portions, the exterior of which is at the same radius as the drum.

14. The combination with a telescopic holding device for a plate, of a plate adapted to be held thereby, the plate and telescopic device having overlapping portions at the sameradius.

15. The combination of a drum, a telescopic holding device thereon, a plate adapted tov embrace the drum and anchored at its end to the telescoping holding device, said anchored end of.

and made of two arcuate members with overlapping fingers, one member of the telescopic device being secured to the drum and the other beingmovably mounted on the drum, a plane-- graphic printing plate embracing the drum and having its ends secured to the two members ofbetween the drum and movable member of the holding device, and an inking roller adapted to contact simultaneously with the drum and holding device and with either of them alone.

17. The combination of a rotary drum having a gap, a plate attaching device mounted in the gap and having a convex exterior with a series of recesses adjacent the edge, a plate adapted to be mounted on the drum and having projections adapted to extend into the recesses, the main portion of the attachingdevice having an external cylindrical surface of the same radius as the exterior of the plate on the drum, said.

cylindrical surface of the attaching device continuing between the projections on the plate, said projections being bent inwardly of said cylindrical surface into the recesses.

' 18. A planographic printing plate having at one end thereof 'a set of projections with intervening spaces and having openings through the projections, combined with a support for the main portion'of the plate, and a holding device having pegs adapted to occupy the openings and having means between the projections to engage the inking roller which inks the plate.

19. A metallic printing plate having a series of ears on its end integral with the plate and slots through the ears, the outermost portion of the slots being beyond the innermost portions of the spaces between the ears, a drum about which the plate may extend, and a holding device on the drum having recesses into which the ears may extend, and pegs in said recesses adapted to occupy the openings in the slots.

20. The combination of a drum, a printing plate adapted to wrap around the drum, means on the drum for engaging the plate near the end thereof, said drum and said means having overlapping arcuate projections adapted to'support the plate continuously.

21. The combination with a drum having a gap of a, plate-holding device in the gap comprising two members movable arcuately one with reference to the other, one member being secured to the drum and theiother member having means for engaging end projections of a plate on a drum, the latter member extending between the projection at the same radius as that of the exterior of the plate on the drum.

22. The combination with a drum, of a tele scoping plate-holding device thereon, one member of which is secured to the drum and the other member of which has means for engaging the end portion of a plate on a drum, said plate and the member which engages it having overlapping projections.

DISCLAIMER 1,967,221.William R. Allen, Shaker Heights, and Emmett O. Hartley, Euclid Village, Ohio. PRINTING PLATE AND HOLDING MEANS THEREFOR. Patent dated July 24, 1934. Disclaimer filed Aug. 17, 1946, by the assignee, Addressograph-Multigmph Corporation. Hereby enters this disclaimer to claims 7 and 8 in the specification of said patent.

[Ofiimlal Gazette September 17, 1946.] 

